When Victor Gressler took the stage at his 100th birthday celebration on October 19, he wasn’t just marking a milestone. He continued doing what he’s loved for nearly his entire life: making music that lifts others’ spirits.
The Elizabeth Scott Senior Living resident, a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, played guitar and sang for his fellow residents. “He still plays, and all the songs are still in his head, even at 100 years old,” says his stepdaughter, Barbara Kurtz. “If an entertainer can’t make it to the community, they’ll ask Victor, and he always says yes. He never turns down a chance to make people smile.”
Music has been a thread through Gressler’s extraordinary life, which has been shaped by courage, hard work and joy. Born in Toledo and raised in Maumee, he was just 16 when he left high school to enlist in the Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor. “They didn’t look too closely at your age back then if you wanted to serve,” Kurtz says…